Third World Cinema Club

#PauNine fans, you have been blessed. First you've heard our reviews (look up episode 139 if you haven't), now it's time to talk to the two leads of Prime Cruz's latest film, Ngayon Kaya!

Carrying the moniker #PauNine , Paulo Avelino and Janine Gutierrez team up for the first time on the big screen (their very first pairing was actually for Dwein Baltazar's Marry Me Marry You on iWant.ph). We talk about many things you haven't heard of about them: which films got their interest in acting, which performances they wished they got for, their "what ifs", their college anthems, and many more. They also joined us in listing down their recently watched films so be sure to listen til the end.

P.S. The gift of "not asking" what many of their fans wanted to know lead us to having them reveal something towards the end.

Do check out our written review of the film here. Also, here's a link to the song "Pahintulot" originally by Shirebound and Busking.

Do tag us in your socials and share this episode with the hashtag #PauNineOnTWCC

Notes:

This episode contains spoilers for the film.

Ngayon Kaya is now showing in cinemas nationwide.

We were able to catch an advance screening of Prime Cruz's Ngayon Kaya, a film at least two years in the making! John, Princess and Jim give their thoughts on the film in this mini-sized episode of Third World Cinema Club. What did they think of the #PauNine tandem? What music remind you of your college years? Ano kaya yung sa kanila? Enjoy yet another fun discussion on Philippine cinema with the gang. Also, watch out for our exclusive interview with the film's lead stars Janine Gutierrez and Paulo Avelino on the next episode.

About the film

Ngayon Kaya tells the story of AM and Harold, two college friends who meet again in a common friend's wedding. We then see the next few scenes unfold their history as friends and as almost lovers are then revealed. Will they, or won't they?

This also marks as the first time since the pandemic that the three have met in person! So there's definitely a lot of laughs, a lot of chikkas involved in the outtakes of this episode, and a lot of references on music and some of Prime and Jen's previous films.

This film is now showing in cinemas near you so go catch it! Use the hashtag #NgayonKayaOnTWCC when listening to this episode and tag us on your socials! Do share your thoughts with us on what you thought of this episode and give us a 5-star review if you can on Spotify.

Notes:

This podcast contains spoilers at around the 15 minute mark. It's recommended that you see the movie first before listening to this episode.

Read our written review via Film Police Reviews here

This episode is also on Apple Podcasts! Please give us a review or rate our episodes para alam namin kung may tama na ba kami. Hahaha.

Pasensya na sa delay! After a very busy April for us all here at Third World Cinema Club, it's time we release the third of our WOMEN'S MONTH SPECIAL and without bias we present a film from friends of the pod, Dwein Baltazar but in this time, as seen through the eyes of our female guests Karen and Ica and Cess.

As her pick for women's month, Cess has discussed the film with the gang before but in this episode she talks about how the women see what Aileen wants them to see as a fellow woman.

Spoilers are definitely present in this episode. A few things to think about that are also present in this podcast:

The name/word "Ai leen" has a different meaning in Japanese, as Ica says.

Is the film how the female gaze should be made?

Sino ba ang hindi na LSS sa Ikaw Pa Rin ni Ted Ito? These three definitely were in full LSS mode.

Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus is directed by Dwein Baltazar, who has directed several other films such as Oda sa Wala, the series Marry Me, Marry You, and Hello, Stranger: The Movie. We love her so much we just wanted to introduce her to our newly founded girl friends. :)

You can still watch the film via the FDCP Channel. You just need to sign up for a membership to gain full access to the film.

P.S. This episode was recorded in the last few days of March pero sobrang busy talaga namin. Sorry!

Listen to the episode now in full here:

Nadine Lustre's first film since Indak is a thriller from Yam Laranas about a couple who win a large sum of money. Actually getting that money is another story. Film archivist and NCCA member Ronald Rios joins us as we talk about Vivamax's Greed.

Notes

Spoilers are present in this episode.

The product of a special 24 hour "shootout" where filmmakers make a film in 24 hours based on a theme, Indelible is an anthology film compiling these works, with a theme both timely and appropriate to the election season. In this special collaboration of Third World Cinema club with Binisaya, we talk to the filmmakers responsible for making Indelible possible.

You can watch this film at this year's Cinemata presentation, at https://cinemata.org/

Notes:

This episode contains some spoilers.

This is the audio version of this conversation. The video version can now be watched here:

Cess, Ica, and Karen are back for Part Two of our Women's Month Special featuring Karen Mae's pick: the ever-changing, ever-so-relevant, ever-so-important HARLEY QUINN in her appearances in film and in the media.

The character first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series in September of 1992 (episode titled "Joker's Favor") as Mr. J's mischievous sidekick. Despite her actual name as Dr. Harleen Quinzell, she's mostly known in both the animated series and comics as Harley Quinn, donning a clown costume in red, black and white, and is usually sexualized or depicted as the Joker's love-struck assistant.

Flashforward to 2016's Suicide Squad and we find her catapulted into fame, but with that fame comes realizations of how Harley Quinn can evolve into something more relatable than just being a one-dimensional character who can wear decently accessible clothes and still kick ass.

Listen to the three talk about Harley Quinn *the character* in the awful Suicide Squad (2016),to how she fully evolves into the right persona in Birds of Prey (2020) and how she sustains her #MeToo-approved story-arch in The Suicide Squad (2021). This topic was chosen by Karen Mae and her love for the character as a 90s kid/tita who grew up loving the character.

Spoilers are definitely present in this podcast. Especially a spill on how Harley Quinn has evolved in the comics too.

We dedicate this episode to all women who are victims of abuse, to fight for their right to live, their will to live, and to find the courage to leave their abusers.

Stay tuned again this coming week for the last part of our Women's month special wherein the three talk about Dwein Baltazar's Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus and Turning Red as Cess's pick.

For this year's Women's Month special, our very own Princess Kinoc has invited two of Philippine pop-culture's female writers: Karen Mae de Vera and Marica Hontiveros-Cheng to talk about three films or topics on Women in Film every week of March.

For the first of this series, Ica selects Mad Max: Fury Road as the first film they tackle on feminism and more. Most of the perspectives online about the film were either written by men or seen through the eyes of men. Listen to this episode now as they talk about it in women's perspectives, and how it was a gender-bending breakthrough on how female characters should be written.

Spoilers are present in this podcast, as well as some political commentary on how patriarchy still exists in our country so please be wary.

Here's us wishing there were more female characters written in their true essence the same way as Furiosa's and the wives in this film. You can still watch Mad Max: Fury Road on HBO! Share with us your thoughts on this episode now.

About this series' co-hosts:

Marica "Ica" Hontiveros-Cheng, is a freelance writer and team lead for a BPO company. She is also an avid cosplayer, she writes consistently about local music, movies, everything pop culture and is one half of the blog Team PCheng. Her voice as a woman makes her contribution to what you need to know about our local music and pop-culture scene opens up a different kind of perspective. Read more of her writing here.

Karen Mae de Vera, host extraordinaire, and contributing writer for a number of publications such as Kidzone, Esquire, Cosmo.ph and Rappler, and many more. Her plethora of articles range from pop-culture to what women does and want in general, which makes her articulated on the moods and methods of how women are depicted in cinema and in pop-culture. Follow her on Instagram here.

Princess is one of the hosts for Third World Cinema Club. Aside from writing for Film Police Reviews, she has published articles in publications such as the New Durian Cinema and UP's Pelikula Journal.

Stay tuned next week as we talk about Karen's pick: the two Harlequinns

Matt Reeves' The Batman debuts in Philippine Cinemas and it's an interesting take to say the least. Join Tristan, Princess, Jim and DJ as they talk about the caped crusader's latest outing.

Notes:

Spoilers for The Batman are present in this episode.

Feel free to compare the best version of the Bat

Konnichiwa, everyone! February 2022 saw the release of the latest edition of the Japanese Film Festival. Join John, Princess and Jim as they talk about some of the films from this year's fest.

Notes:

Spoilers for all the films discussed are present in this episode.

Films Discussed:

It's a Summer Film! (2020)

Masked Ward (2020)

Aristocrats (2020)

Ito (2021)

Awake (2020)

We're trying a new format in this episode, where we assign ourselves a film to discuss every week or so. Join us as we discuss MMFF 2021's Love at First Stream.

Notes:

Spoilers are present in this episode.